It didn’t take long for the Interim Superintendent Rod Schroder to announce his intention for a school district eyeing academic reform.

In fact, it took a few minutes into his first board of trustees meeting Tuesday at the Administration Building.

Moments after a Destination Imagination team from Carver Center was recognized and more than $50,000 in check presentations from SM Energy took place, Schroder reminded trustees, school district officials and the community of the academic reality in Midland. The data shows that Midland isn’t meeting the state standards on four different indexes measuring performance. In fact, MISD trailed well behind peer groups.

“We need to respond,” Schroder said. “That is what we are planning to do.”

Midland ISD board members approved Schroder -- the former superintendent at Amarillo ISD -- to be the interim replacement to Ryder Warren because of his record up north, leading a district with a similar number of “free lunch students,” and making reform a reality.

Within minutes of his report, he told trustees of the improvement needed regarding test performance, academic growth of students, the district’s ability to close performance gaps and post-secondary readiness.

He reported on data having to do with completion rates that “concerned” him. African-Americans, Hispanics and economically disadvantaged students were described as being below or “way off” trends.

“We have to do something,” he said.

He reported that percentages of elementary school students reading and completing math work at proper grade levels were in the 40 percent and 50 percent ranges.

“We want to be at 80 (percent),” he said.

And then after the straight talk, he offered praise for “teaching and learning” officials for taking initial steps to respond to the data. The professional learning environments he had success with in Amarillo were put into place in some Midland schools last year. It won’t be until next year that implementation will have taken place at all schools.

Schroder then offered two things for board members that are likely to serve as the inspiration and a blueprint for academic reform.

The first is a mission statement for the district, its supporters, its teachers and the community -- “All students will graduate prepared and ready for college and career.”

Schroder then offered three areas of focus:

-- Growth mindset

Intelligence can be improved systemwide and deep.

-- No excuses

MISD officials will not shift responsibility to anyone. Strong teachers will say it is their job to get it done.

-- Campuses must have instructional processes and use them with fidelity in order to create processes.

“Sobering at best” is how board member Jay Isaacs described the presentation, which ended with a statement of optimism.

“Midland can be a turnaround district in the state and people will notice that,” Schroder said.

“A confirmation of our performance” is how board President Rick Davis described Schroder’s comments.

A little later in the meeting Elise Kail outlined the “District Improvement Plan” and “MISD Expectations” for the upcoming year and described the influence Schroder had on those documents.

“What I was more interested in is the plan of action to move us forward and address us to move in all those areas,” Davis said. “When we interviewed him we learned about his growth mindset point of view and the philosophy hoped to utilize in this district, and we were very much receptive to that.

“We thought that was an excellent idea,” he said. “The no-excuses philosophy is another thing we were glad to hear during the interview and look forward to him implementing that during his time as superintendent.

“All three of those (areas of focus) can be implemented now, instituted now and we hope to see improvement as a result of the institution of all three of those things. We also hope it will lay a good foundation for his successor,” Davis said.

MISD rated “superior”

Chief Financial Officer David Garcia, reported that Midland ISD was rated as a “superior” district, according to FIRST (the Financial Integrity Rating System of Texas). Garcia said MISD scored a 98. The score is based on policies and procedures that taken place in the district, Garcia said.

Isaacs made it a point to say this should send a message to those commenting online about the district’s fiscal conservatism. Board member Karen Nicholson added that it shows a fiscal responsibility that takes place.

District 2’s newest representative

The MISD board accepted the resignation of Angel Hernandez as the representative of District 2, and voted to appoint Robert Marquez as the district’s new seat holder. Hernandez was the only District 2 resident to file for a place on the November ballot.